Zoetrope
by Stingue
Summary: Rogue just wanted his partner to live. Why did Sting have to die? If he was sure of one thing he was sure, he would keep Sting alive at all costs. Slight Stingue if you squint and turn around and do backflips.


Rogue was woken up by the sunlight leaking through the curtains and placing themselves over his eyes. With a grumble, he sat up on his bed rubbing his eyes, getting his eyes adjusted to the dark room. His eyes darted first to the clock, 8:34 in the morning. From the clock, his crimson gaze moved to the calendar next: July 17, X791. With a sigh, he moved quietly out of bed knowing that Frosch would still be asleep. In an hour and a half, he was going to be meeting Sting and Lector. It was their usual routine after all. By the time he was done getting ready, the green exceed was up and already dressed in her bright bubble gum pink frog suit. "Morning Rogue!" She greeted him with a toothy grin while eating a bowl of cereal. Nodding, he grumbled back, it was clear that he wasn't a morning person even though he always ended up waking up so early, much to his dismay. "Morning," he grabbed a bowl to get some cereal as well. He looked out to the window as he began to eat his breakfast to see a clear endless blue sky. Today was going to be a normal day, he could tell, and that he was fine with.

By the time 10 o'clock came, both the shadow dragon slayer and white dragon slayer were approaching their meeting spot at the Sabertooth Guild Hall with their respective exceeds by their sides. The guild was surprisingly already lively despite it still being morning. Rogue also took note of new faces but didn't give it another thought. Sting lifted up a hand and greeted his partner with a smirk, "Yo! Morning Rogue, Frosch." Lector also gave his greeting, and it was clear that he had just woken up. Frosch and Lector had already gone off to talk about their dreams of the other night, only to have Lector boast about how much better his was. Rogue rolled his eyes and turned his attention to his dragon slayer partner. "What's the plan for today?" Rogue questioned the white dragon slayer because he was sure the other already had some sort of plans… he always did "Well I'm glad you asked, Rogue ole buddy ole pal of mine," he slung his arm around Rogue and began walking out the guild halls. "You'll just have to find out when we get there." That earned another eye roll with a scoff added to it. It couldn't be too bad, right? Walking down the streets, they had idle chat about just whatever came to mind. "Oh yeah, I'm sure you saw them too, the new members. I'm surprised that guild master actually let in more people. He's usually so set in his ways of only letting one person in at a time, ya know?" Sting mumbled. Rogue couldn't help but nod in agreement. It was a bit strange, but he wasn't going to question it. "If you think about what happened at this year's games though, you think he would change, even if it was just a little bit," Rogue countered. "True, true, okay, so we're going to Orga's," Sting finally told the raven haired male. Raising a brow, Rogue didn't' even have to speak for Sting to know that he was confused as to why they were going to Orga's. They very rarely went out with any of the other members of Sabertooth. "Hear me out, there's this new game that Orga got that looks really fun. Mask face says he hates it, but his definition of fun is sticking his nose in a book," Sting laughed to himself at the image of Rufus playing video games. It just wasn't him. Rogue stopped in his tracks, "a video game? Really?" Well, he really couldn't complain but still. Why the big secret? There had to be more to it than it just being a fun video game. Sting was hiding something and it was clear on the smirk plastered on his face as he turned around and kept on walking backwards. "Come on, Rogue, or I'm going on without you, and you'll be missing out."

Sting kept walking backwards with his haughty expression and Rogue's was one of annoyance, but it twisted into one of shock as both dragon slayers stopped and turned from the sudden loud noise of a carriage going full speed towards Sting. "Sting!" Rogue called out and reached for the white dragon slayer, but it was already too late. Blood pooled around a limp body and there were splatters of it everywhere. Rogue's eyes were widened with shock as people screamed from the accident calling for help. Rogue couldn't even move from his spot. It was like his brain had shut down on him. The horse pulling the carriage was going on a rampage throughout the streets, and Rogue was only hoping this was some sort of nightmare.


End file.
